ԷՋ ՅՈՒՇԱԴԱՄԲԱՆԱՑ

Ասիկա երկլեզու էջ մըն է: Կը պարունակէ, իմ,տարիներու ընթացքին հեղինակած եւ կարդացած դամբանականներս կամ ալ՝ յաւերժօրէն մեկնողներուն ուղղուած գրութիւններս: Բոլոր անձերը որ անոնց նիւթը եղած են՝ իւրայատուկ ձեւով մը մաս կազմած են կեանքիս:

Sunday, May 24, 2015

The Persistence of Memory


 or

Willing the Past Century to the Future
For my future grandchildren who will witness great events. May they make them positive ones.
 


Today is yesterday’s tomorrow and tomorrow’s yesterday.
We live as links in the chain of history and unless we realize this, we could be forever chained by it.

Like every one of my generation living on this planet who is a descendant of Western Armenians, I am here and now because four people survived the Genocide of Armenians in 1915.  They were my grandparents.  Hovsep Attarian (Attar-Migiryan), Zohra Attarian (née Amirian), Vahan-Israel Pilikian,  Tefarik Pilikian (née Der-Arsenian).
Here is my family’s report card as a legacy of struggle for memory.  It is only a very dry and short summary that does not chronicle the hours, days, months, years and in-fact the whole lifetimes that were shaped by who we became as the result of the Genocide.  For the details, the reader will have to do the research in the labyrinths of history and in the minds of the living.

·         In April 1919, my great uncle, the famous Ottoman lawyer Levon (Remzi) Attar-Migiryan, was the prosecuting attorney on behalf of the plaintiffs, the Armenian population of the Yozgad-Boghazlyan province where over 80,000 Armenians were murdered.  This was during the famous Ottoman Military Tribunals which found the leaders of the Ottoman government of the time (who had already fled the country), guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.  They were sentenced to death in absentia. The governor of the Yozgad-Boghazlyan province, Mehmet Kemal Bey, was also found guilty of the same crimes and was executed by hanging.  To date, this is the only official record of any Turkish government legally recognizing the crime that the Ottoman government committed against its own citizens.

·         From 1918 and well into the late 1920s, my grandfather, Hovsep Attarian, like many survivors, helped find, rescue and reunite the remnants of his and his wife Zohra’s families.  Their descendants all over the world will be eternally grateful.

·         During WWII, my grandfather, Vahan-Israel Pilikian, endangering his own life, organized secret fundraisings in Iraq to help Soviet Armenia and subsequently personally carried the sums to the representative of the USSR in Iran.  The sums were used in the creation of the famous tank battalion called David of Sassoun Battalion (named after the legendary hero of the Armenian epic), which fought the Nazis all the way into Berlin.

·         In 1946, once again, my grandfather rose to the call of duty.  He was one of the key organizers on the Iraqi committee of repatriation into Armenia. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians immigrated into Armenia from all over the world, helping it keep the status of an individual USSR republic due to this repopulation, and essentially securing its independence in our times.

·         In 1957, my parents gave to their newborn son, to me, the middle name of Levon (Leon), after the same great and brave intellectual hero-lawyer, my father’s uncle.

·         In 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the Genocide, my father, Alphonse Attarian (pen-name: Armen Tarian), published a critically-acclaimed book of short stories dedicated to the memory of our people.  It is called Away from the Anchor (Խարիսխէն Հեռու).  It contains a fictionalized account of his ancestral family in a remarkable short story called The Mulberry Tree (Թթենին).  In the same year, even as a child of 7 years, I walked with my parents in the great protest march to the Genocide Memorial chapel in Antelias, where the bones of the victims were gathered from the Syrian desert and came to their eternal resting place.

·         In the same year of 1965, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary, my uncle, the poet Karnig Attarian, published his award-winning monumental epic, The Book of Pain and Restitution (Մատեան Ցաւի եւ Հատուցման). It remains a unique piece of modern Western Armenian poetry.  The public school no. 133 in Yerevan, Armenia, is named after him.

·         In April of 1975, on the 60th anniversary, I was one of the young organizers of the great unity march of 100,000 to Martyrs’ Square in Beirut.  I walked with them all. It was the biggest ever demonstration that had ever took place in Lebanon to that date.

·         In 1980, on the 65th anniversary, my father started working on his award-winning volume of three novellas, The Mountain and the Home (Լեռը եւ Տունը).  It was published 2 years later.

·         In April of 1985, on the 70th anniversary, as a lonely Armenian living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, I took a solemn personal oath to always and forever defend human rights and fight injustice everywhere to the maximum of my ability.

·         In January 1990, my father passed away, leaving behind an unfinished novel, The President’s Shoes (Նախագահին Կօշիկները), and an unfinished book of short stories Two Seasons(Melodies)(Երկու Եղանակ) which he wanted to publish that year on the occasion of the 75th anniversary. The books were published posthumously in 1991 by the editorial team which included my mother Arsinée Attarian (née Pilikian), my sister Hourik Attarian, my uncle Pierre Attarian, my “aunt” Hasmig Nadjarian, the great teacher/editor Jirayr Tanielian, the unique cultural icon Dr. Toros Toranian and the outstanding and great literary critic/editor Krikor Chahinian.  Both works remain seminal fictionalized examples of storytelling of the actual events of the lives of Genocide orphans and survivors.

·         In 1991, my first son was born.  He was named Armen-Hrant, after both his grandfathers.

·         In 1993, my wife, Datevik Sumbulian, upon the initiative of the Armenian Medical Association of Quebec, fundraised and sent over 5000 battlefront first aid kits to the fighting men and women in the battle to free Artsakh.

·         In 1995, on the 80th anniversary, I was a member of the joint organizing committee in Montreal representing the Armenian Catholic community.  I had also become a supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada and volunteered in its electoral campaign of 1993 (and every campaign since).

·         In 2000, on the 85th anniversary, I was elected vice-chairman of the Montreal chapter of the AGBU.  Along with my board colleague Armen Bechakjian, and with the joint participation of all Montreal Armenian organizations, we started Montreal’s first genocide conferences, called the Distinguished Speakers on Genocide series, which lasted for 5 years.  The series introduced to Montrealers of all origins, such individuals like the great Canadian-Congolese journalist François Bugingo (the MC of the 100th anniversary event), the late great Holocaust survivor and historian/researcher Dr. Kurt Jonassohn, and numerous others, both researchers and survivors of crimes against humanity from Guatemala, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Cambodia, Palestine, Kurdistan, and so on.  We all learnt a lot from them all.

·         The same year, I started working directly with the Liberal Party of Canada parliamentarians, specifically, the late great Senator Shirley Maheu, Senator Raymond Setlakwe, the Hon. Eleni Bakopanos, the Hon. Sarkis Assadourian and the Hon. Stéphane Dion on the dossier of the recognition of the Genocide of Armenians.  I was personally promised by Sen. Maheu that she would not rest until it is done.  I will recall and give important due credit to my other Liberal colleague, the able Mr. Jean-Phillippe Tashdjian who worked hard with Sen. Setlakwe and other Liberal parliamentarians as well to support this initiative.  All Canadian-Armenians contributed to this important milestone.

·         Simultaneously a partnership was started with the PBS station at Plattsburgh NY, Mountain Lake PBS.  Over the past 15 years, I worked diligently to bring serious documentaries about Armenian history, culture and the Genocide of Armenians to millions of viewers from Quebec City, to the Eastern Townships, from Montreal, all the way south to Albany NY.  These programs have been extremely successful in bringing this matter to the attention of the wider public, both in the US and Canada and helped push the agenda of recognition in Canada, first by the Liberal-dominated Senate in 2002, and then by the support of the opposition in a minority Liberal Parliament in 2004.

·         In 2005, on the 90th anniversary of the Genocide, I was the MC at the final general public event. I was also elected the chairman of AGBU Montreal, which took a leadership role in the Canadian-Armenian community scene.  I started participating more actively in the Manuel Keusseyan Armenian Studies program as a lecturer, and gave several well-attended lectures about the history of our people and the period covering the Genocide, both in and outside Montreal and even in the US.
 
·         And it in the same year that I was contacted by the amazing couple, Sam and Sylva Simonian to help them realize their unique vision of a gift to the Armenian nation; the indescribable TUMO  Center.  I worked with them to define and refine the vision, to involve the right people and in 2011 the dream became an even more wonderful reality.
 
·         In late 2009 and throughout 2010, the year of the 95th anniversary, I worked with my friends Dr. Dikran Abrahamian, J. Tutunjian and many others to establish a Canadian sub-committee of the NCWA (National Congress of Western Armenians), which is a UN-registered NGO and is the most serious international organization pursuing restitutions for the Genocide through legal means.  We have influenced its direction and mission, sent Canadian delegates to its various meetings and assmblies, organized local events with its leadership and have established a strong, serious and respected Canadian presence within its ranks.  The NWCA continues to work tirelessly to achieve its objectives.

·         In 2010, on the 95th anniversary, my sister, Hourik Attarian, submitted her PhD dissertation to McGill University focusing on the theme of Genocide studies, memory and education.  She successfully defended her thesis a few months later in 2011.  She is now a genocide scholar and expert on the subject lecturing all over the world, but also specifically in Turkey itself.

·         In the same year, my son Armen H. Attarian, successfully organized with the AGBU and HMEM scouts, a unity youth march commemorating the Genocide in the streets of Montreal, culminating in a public rally at Phillip Square.  It was this march that has continued on every year since and was converted in the 100th anniversary to the march of 10,000 to end genocides.  I was honored to be invited to speak at three of those rallies as President of the Policy Commission of the Liberal Party of Canada (QC).

·         Also in 2010, Armen was one of the organizers of the AGBU Montreal Armenia 2010 project.  They led a group of young men and women scouts to Armenia to build homes for earthquake victims.  It was a gruelling, backbreaking work, but emotionally extremely rewarding. Upon their return, they were awarded the highest recognition of Scouts Canada, the Annapurna Badge, which was bestowed upon them by the Governor General of Canada.

·         Also in 2010, I was one of the organizers of the commemoration event on Parliament Hill thanking Canadian Parliamentarians and the Canadian Government for their support and official recognition of the Genocide of Armenians.  I worked hard to secure the participation of many Liberal Party members at the event, in particular, the leader, Mr. Michael Ignatieff.
 

It is now 2015 and a century has gone by.  I have done many things this year as well.  For that, please go to HERE.
This is what we have done.  This is who we are because we are what we do.

And now, here I stand and declare that I am Viken Levon Attarian, a survivor.
I am and will continuously become a living story and memory.

And even when my time comes, I shall still be nothing but a story and memory.